Division walls are commonly referred to as which type of wall?

• A. Curtain walls
• B. Shear walls
• C. Party walls
• D. Fire walls

Answer: (D)

Division walls denote interior partitions that split a building into separate spaces and help control how fire and smoke spread, creating compartments. A fire wall is a wall built with fire resistance to divide a building or occupancy, slowing or stopping fire from moving from one side to the other. Because division walls are about creating fire-separated sections of a structure, they’re described as fire walls. Curtain walls are exterior, non-structural facades; shear walls resist lateral forces in the structure; party walls are shared between adjacent occupancies. The fire wall concept best matches the purpose of division walls.